Photo credit: @trapninja7

Cambridge, MA, October 18, 2025 — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology hosted the first Eastern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference (ECTC) tournament of the 2025–2026 season, welcoming over 600 athletes from 24 universities across the Northeast. The tournament launched the ECTC calendar with a day of spirited competition, camaraderie, and sportsmanship as student-athletes competed in 3v3 Poomsae and Kyorugi (sparring) team formats. Winning the tournament in Division 1 (highly competitive schools) was Northeastern University, winning Division 2 (competitive schools) was Brown University, and Division 3 (developmental schools) was Columbia University.

Photo credit: @trapninja7

The ECTC is one of six regional leagues that make up the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) Regional League Initiative, now in its second year. This initiative connects collegiate teams across the country—spanning the Eastern, Western, Southern, Central, and Pacific regions—to expand opportunities for athletes to represent their schools and qualify for the NCTA Cup Championships each spring.

“Going into the second year of the NCTA Regional League Initiative, I am so pleased to see the most opportunities ever for collegiate athletes to participate and represent their schools in competition in their regions,” said Master Dan Chuang, NCTA President and ECTC Board Member. “Thank you to the hard work of our regional directors, as well as to NCTA Tournament Committee Chair Tara Sarathi for their hard work to make these events a reality. Thanks also to our ECTC Tournament Committee Co-Chairs, Will Estey and Rae Drach, and to NCTA/ECTC Referee Chair Jaime Schulte for their leadership at these huge ECTC events.”

Chuang also reflected on the continued success of the NCTA Cup, which debuted last season as the culmination of the collegiate Taekwondo year.

“The historic NCTA Cup was a resounding success, with head-to-head 3v3 Poomsae and sparring formats bringing an electric atmosphere as athletes gave their all on behalf of their teammates and schools to reach the podium,” said Chuang. “I am looking forward to seeing this event grow year over year and become a destination for teams at the end of a long season.”

Energy and Enthusiasm Highlight the Season Opener

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From the opening team Poomsae rounds to the final sparring matches, the MIT tournament was filled with energy and excitement. Teams representing schools such as Northeastern, Cornell, West Point, Columbia, NYU, Rutgers, Brown, in addition to MIT, created an electric environment, with athletes giving their all in front of cheering teammates and supportive crowds. The day reflected the best of collegiate Taekwondo—high-level competition, sportsmanship, and the shared excitement of a new season.

Photo credit: @trapninja7

“Seeing more than 600 athletes from 24 schools come together to kick off the season was truly inspiring!” said Will Estey, ECTC Tournament Committee Co-Chair. “The energy in the venue was incredible, and I’m so thankful to our referees, staff, volunteers, and athletes for making it happen. The ECTC spirit is as strong as ever!”

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Titus Tsai, President of MIT Sport Taekwondo, echoed the sentiment. “The number of athletes present was amazing to see, and I was particularly impressed by the level of the C team Poomsae, both MIT’s and across the league. So many people had to come together to make the tournament run as well as it did, and I’m so thankful to every one of them for putting in that effort and volunteering their time to help us out.”

Tournament Results

Poomsae Team Results

A Team (Advanced)

  • 🏆 West Point A1 – Yewon Jeong, Megan Cho, Enoch Choi
  • 🥈 Michigan A1 – Kaitlyn Sheng, Joshua Sheng, Geonhee Lee
  • 🥉 Rutgers A1 – Eric Gun, Hamin Kim, Aden Nguyen
  • 🥉 MIT A1 – Belinda Vela, Brian Le, Akila Saravanan

B Team (Intermediate)

  • 🏆 MIT B1 – Ricardo Carrillo, Yuying Lin, Titus Tsai
  • 🥈 Northeastern B1 – Cameron Minh-Bao Nguyen, Conrad Wu, Victoria Mung
  • 🥉 Brown B2 – Avery Maytin, Johanna Leang, Salah Ali
  • 🥉 UPenn B1 – Tianran Hu, Isabella Chu, Alana Shin

C Team (Beginner)

  • 🏆 Rutgers C1 – Alina Chen, Emily Ou, Suhani Mahale
  • 🥈 Brown C1 – Adelina Zheng, Grace Yang, Ryan Zou
  • 🥉 UPenn C1 – Ellis Charles, Adele Xinrui Qian, Jiyu Zhang
  • 🥉 Tufts C1 – Sorcha Sullivan, Daniel Zipperer, Yasmin Iyer

Men’s Sparring Team Results

A Team (Advanced)

  • 🏆 NYU A2 & Michigan A1 (tie) –
    • NYU: Josh Huang, Jay Lin, Mitchell Toomey
    • Michigan: Isaac Kim, Joshua Sheng, Eeshan Satish Bhat, Mihir Barlinge
  • 🥉 Northeastern A1 – Jay Uttamchandani, Abhishek Narang, Jose Olmo
  • 🥉 Cornell A1 – Aria Haghighat, Oladipo Omokanwaye, Louis Arnoult Costafreda

B Team (Intermediate)

  • 🏆 MIT B1 & Northeastern B1 (tie) –
    • MIT: Ricardo Carrillo, Jeryl Lewis, William Nolan
    • Northeastern: Cameron Minh-Bao Nguyen, Luke Knee, Jan Heinz
  • 🥉 Northeastern B2 – Hugh Vo, Brady Aber, Brandon Inga
  • 🥉 Brown B1 – Avery Maytin, Jerome Jacobs, Salah Ali

C Team (Beginner)

  • 🏆 Rutgers C1 & NYU C1 (tie) –
    • Rutgers: Christian Perez, Nicholas Gatto, Jaxon Bentivegna
    • NYU: Kevin Che, Jae Jeon, Brian Lin
  • 🥉 NYU C2 – Joel Lee, Harlan Plass, Cooper Hu
  • 🥉 U Albany C1 – Noah Satterlee, Edgar Quinonez, Xavier Daniel

Women’s Sparring Team Results

A Team (Advanced)

  • 🏆 Columbia A1 & West Point A1 (tie) –
    • Columbia: Ashley Choi, Emily Kam, Ward Selman
    • West Point: MJ McKenzie, Yewon Jeong, Megan Cho
  • 🥉 NYU A1 – Wenjia Qu, Serena Huang
  • 🥉 Northeastern A1 – Sydney Bao, Taylor McMordie, Sierre Ternoey

B Team (Intermediate)

  • 🏆 Cornell B1, Brown B2, Northeastern B1, Tufts B1 (tie) –
    • Cornell: Varvara Babii, Lily Rose Mager, Olivia Wen
    • Brown: Lauren Olson, Johanna Leang
    • Northeastern: Ariana Mechem, Maia Delagneau, Victoria Mung
    • Tufts: Sara Murillo, Cat Sziklas, Celeste Boyer

C Team (Beginner)

  • 🏆 Brown C1 – Lily Hong, Holland Welch, Grace Yang
  • 🥈 Harvard C2 – Amanda Grundmann, Susanna Barouch, Caroline Song
  • 🥉 Harvard C1 – Amy Li, Christina Le, Chiara Chung-Halpern
  • 🥉 Yale C1 – Elizabeth Kim, Aysha Guvanchmyradova, Rose Chen

Division Winners

Division 1 Winners

  • 🏆 Northeastern – 308 pts
  • 🥈 MIT – 228 pts
  • 🥉 NYU – 220 pts

Division 2 Winners

  • 🏆 Brown – 248 pts
  • 🥈 West Point – 224 pts
  • 🥉 Michigan – 188 pts

Division 3 Winners

  • 🏆 Columbia – 104 pts
  • 🥈 Tufts – 64 pts
  • 🥉 Harvard – 60 pts

Looking Ahead

The ECTC season continues next month as teams travel to Brown University on November 22, 2025, for the second tournament of the 2025–2026 collegiate Taekwondo season. Across the nation, regional leagues will continue hosting competitions that build toward the 2026 NCTA National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships, where teams will compete for the prestigious NCTA Cup.